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The Internqueen Blog

On-the-go Internship Hunting

This blog is written by Tara, our campus ambassador from University of Maryland.

If the Intern Queen and her ambassadors haven’t stressed this enough, let me remind you… it’s spring/summer internship season! If you’re on the hunt like me, you have probably realized how hard it is to keep track of things with the school semester winding down and professors getting all crazy pants on you. I’ve noticed a couple of things I’ve been doing to help me continue my hunt for internships without completely failing school. I thought I would share this genius with all of you loyal Intern Queeners:

1.) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been minding my own business when all of a sudden I find myself asking this question, “They look awesome, can I intern there?” This usually happens when I’m in class (paying too much attention to get sidetracked obviously) or at work. At this point, I bust out my “Companies to apply to” list on my iPhone notepad. I write down the name of the company, because relying on my fried college brain memory is not good enough. This takes no time at all. I can get back to work and feel good that I have made a little internship progress. When I find some extra time, I research the companies I wrote down in my phone and shoot them an internship inquiry email.

Side note: If you don’t have a smart phone…what are you doing? (Kidding, writing these companies down in a notebook is just as effective)

2.) There are so many materials available about internship/job searching on a college campus. You can literally find booklets, flyers, magazines, etc. lying around random places. A lot of times, I’ll be on my way to class and spot a pile of materials that have the words “CAREER,” “INTERNSHIPS,” or “RESUME” there for the taking. I get the sense that these things might have some valuable information in them, so I make sure to grab it when I see it. No, I may not have the time to read them right then and there, but I know I’ll be able to later. Maybe instead of surfing Facebook the next time you’re waiting for class, take the time to go through these materials.

3.) Have you ever actually stopped and looked at all those flyer-covered bulletin boards all over campus? Yes, a lot of them are filled with people desperate to sell their cars, but there are also some flyers with jobs/internship opportunities. You’re bound to pass a few on the way to class, so it wouldn’t hurt to take a second to skim the board for any valuable information. If you see an opportunity, take their information down and be on your way. Lets get rid of the stigma that looking at bulletin boards will make you late for class.

These tips are all about gathering information on the go, and saving it for later. School can be overwhelming, I know it is for me at the moment, and sometimes I don’t feel like I can put as much effort into internship hunting as I would like. By doing these little things, I feel a little more productive with my search. With Thanksgiving break coming up, we’ll all have a little more free time than usual - it is the perfect opportunity to sit down and look into all the information you’ve gathered.